Feeding the neighbourhood

摘要

Food production is within walking distance in Sir Julian Rose's vision of a country based on a sustainable agriculture revitalising rural economies. Why do organic farmers, and for that matter non-organic farmers, attempt to sell their produce in anonymous, distant market places, when on their doorstep perhaps 12,000 people, including schools, hospitals and local authority canteens, need sup plies? Is it sustainable to transport food 300 miles to a distribution centre, only for it to return three days later and older to the supermarket, when it could have come fresh from the fields, earned the farmer a better price and saved considerable environmental pollution?